Operation: Burnside
by Corrupted Champion
Summary: A one-shot. Following the death of Albert Wesker and Excella Gionne. Steve Burnside must flee, he has no idea where to go or whether any of his friends are still alive; all he knows is one thing, survival and strength. Now he must fight to survive and find a way to escape as the BSAA closes in.


**Operation Burnside**

**The Marshlands, West Africa**

**March 7, 2009**

Twenty-eight year old Steve Burnside was running through the Marshlands. His black clothing was similar to the ones Wesker wore under his black trench coat, with a pair of black gloves. As well as two shoulder holsters on him that held to Beretta 92 FS's that were modified to resemble and perform as Wesker's Samurai Edge, a weapon Steve could never help but to admire.

How could this happen, Steve thought to himself, He continued to run on-into the night, his boots mashing into the ground with great force, as he was running through the Marshlands. He could feel the wind going through his short-cut auburn hair as he did this.

He was unaware of the fate of his commanders Albert Wesker and Excella Gionne. He believed them to be dead. He may not have any confirmation to this, but he did not need much to believe it. The BSAA, more specifically Chris, was not known for being easy on Bioterrorist's.

It had only been a few hours since Wesker first took off on the ship with the stealth bomber to spread the Uroboros virus. Then soon word reached back to the base that Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar were onboard the vessel, as well as the news that Jill had been freed of the P30 mind control device placed on her chest. Soon Steve lost contact with Excella, and then after Wesker took off in the bomber he learned it crashed in a nearby volcano.

"I swear if I ever get the chance I'm going to make Chris pay for this." He said in a vague threat to the absent enemy. To say that Steve hated the older Redfield sibling at this point was an understatement.

Steve could remember a few things from his life after waking up from the cold grip of death. Revived-changed- and once again alive he could barely remember much of his old life. He knew that Wesker found him; he was the one to revive Steve to the land of the living.

Wesker was the reason he was still alive, the Redfield siblings forgot about him, they condemned him to a future as nothing more than a corpse to be used as a test subject, and to be subjected to experimentation. Then Wesker pushed Raven and Lawson to the experiments farther before injecting the Wesker virus into his system.

The Tyrant-Veronica virus that he died with was still in his system, its power still existed in him, but so did the Wesker virus. He was stronger and faster than he was before, more than any human could hope to be. His wounds would heal up in a matter of seconds; his blood would combust into fire when removed from his body and on his command. He could not be killed, he was invincible.

Steve loved Claire; he loved her more than any other woman he knew before. Then in the end he died telling her this, and he thought it was over, part of him wished it really was. Both his parents were dead; he had no one now, and was all alone in the world before dying. Then he was alive once more with his fate in the hands of a man he believed to be as bad as Umbrella. He spent a year believing Claire or her brother would come rescue him, but they never did, and he cursed them for it.

From the very moment he was given freedom, Steve continued to always tell himself if he ever saw one of the Redfield siblings again, it would not end well.

Wesker made him into someone he could barely recognize when he looked in the mirror, but he gave him purpose-a reason to live. He gave him the power to survive in the world and he was loyal to him for it.

Now it was all gone, once more everything good in his life was dead again. Wesker, the man who trained him to control his powers, the man he looked up to like an older-brother was more than likely now dead.

"Everything I ever loved is gone." Steve said to himself, trying to understand how this could have happened.

"Caleb, where did you and the others get off to?" He asked the absent friends who were nowhere to be found.

His best friend and other friend and fellow operatives Caleb Wilson and Raymond Vester were nowhere to be found. He was genuinely concerned for Vester's well being, but was more concerned for Caleb. The two of them were as close to brothers as two best friends could ever be. Caleb left the day before for a mission in the US and Raymond went on a mission with Jessica Sherawat in the Ukraine.

His other fellows, the other enhanced operatives of the Hive/Host Capture Force. Steve was not the first- or-the last of the enhanced operatives that Wesker created, but he was more than certainly one of the more affective, stronger, and superior ones. The others were now gone from their old home. Either they were dead or left a day ahead of him, or even hours.

Then there was Excella, his lover in the physical relationship they frequently engaged in, was more than likely dead. He did not love her as he did Claire, but wanted to feel something other than anger and hate, and she would give it to him. Excella and he did not share an emotional level of intimacy, but Wesker would not show Excella as much affection as she wanted and even she had needs. She may have been more attracted to Wesker than Steve, but she did not consider him inferior to Wesker. He was more than a physically match for her to be attracted to and she found his intelligence to be astonishing. In her eyes he was a perfect lover when it came to sleeping with her. She would often say "So good to be with someone who can keep up."

Even now as he ran in the night he could still see in his mind the night before this all started when they shared a bottle of wine together before Steve would clear the table and they would engage in a feisty night in the small quarters of office she used.

His mind began to wander his thoughts to her as he was slowing down in the run "Oh Excella, you may not have been my love, we may have only been lovers for the sex, but you still helped me find some peace."

She was not a woman of good nature like Claire was, in fact he could see right off the bat that she was bad, but she did not treat him as a monster like the other humans did. She was part of the reason he was stronger now.

As Steve began to stop in the Marshlands, finding the speed boat that was more than likely used by Chris to traverse the Wetlands, he soon sees catches a glimpse of a helicopter as if flew over him and towards the facility he was fleeing from.

"Damn BSAA dogs," he said to himself as his green eyes were starting to glow, they were just like Wesker's-only darker.

He despised the BSAA with a passion; he wanted nothing more than to burn everything they built down. From the moment they first entered the Kijuju zone on the get-go he knew they were going to be a problem for them and Wesker, but Albert ordered him not to interfere.

Now Steve was left running from his home, as the twilight began to rise and bringing morning with it. He had no idea where to go yet, the call he made out to the other survivors had still gone unanswered since he left the base. And now he was left without his PG67A/W syringes, containing the serum used to keep the T Veronica and Wesker virus in his system stable. He knew where to get more, and since the injections were more long lasting on him, than Wesker, he had about a week to procure more for himself.

He then takes the speed boat and prepares to take off.

**Savanna, A few hours later**

Steve remained quiet in his thoughts, taking the boat to the sight of a village where he found the every large Uroboros specimen that Chris and Sheva killed. It was still dawn when he approached the sight, but it would not be for long.

A squad of BSAA soldiers was already on the scene, attempted to remain out of sight and find a way to get away from here. He had no problem with swatting the BSAA flies here and now, but he was on a time table and could only go so long without his serum.

But the plan to remain undetected was not fruitful, one soldier quickly spotted him.

"Hey guy's, over there!" a soldier shouted while pointing a finger at Steve and then aiming his weapon for his chest.

Steve did not bother to try and hide anymore. Walking out into full view as the other soldier took aim with their weapon Steve remained unfazed as he stared smugly at the men and says "Well boys what seems to be the problem?"

The leader of the merry band of merry men aiming the weapons at Steve then says "This area, along with the rest of the Kijuju zone, is under quarantine by the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance." The man was the no nonsense kind of soldier "State your name and business here."

Steve kept his hands down at first, being smug towards the men before replying "Well I was working security at a nearby Tricell complex, but some asshole who works for the same group as you shut it down. Now I'm trying to find my way home."

Then the commander replies "Tricell is as of now under arrest by the BSAA and under investigation. Surrender your weapons and get on the ground, now."

"Oh come on now, is this any way to treat a complete and total stranger." Steve said, playing his smart-ass routine. "I mean really, I have just had a really lousy day and now your goanna arrest me."

"Hey smart-ass, that wasn't a request." One of the soldiers said, aiming his weapon farther up to Steve's neck,

Steve was adamant at first to the order before pretending to comply "Okay, okay. Take it easy." putting his weapons on the handles of his weapons, as he prepares to take them out. "I mean it's not like I'm a monster or anything."

Then the soldiers watched as his eyes glowed like a true tyrant, then one panic and said before opening fire "He's one of them!"

Steve took the first bullet in the chest and it healed instantly. Then he drew one of his guns and fired a shot, killing the man who put a bullet in him. The commander ordered his men to open fire and they did so. Steve did not waste much time, dodging the bullets as Wesker himself could, before firing two more shots from his pistol, killing the leader in a matter of seconds.

Steve then drew his second pistol.

"Now this is what I call entertainment." He said, firing his weapon at the soldiers. In his time working for Wesker, Steve had come to appreciate a love of battle. He never knew anything more enjoyable than making love to a beautiful woman, like Excella, or Ada; a female agent he worked with, back when he was still working and training with his second mentor Jack Krauser.

Though to be fair, he mostly slept with Ada to spite a man named Leon S. Kennedy, who he believed Claire went to for comfort after she thought he was dead. He could not really bring himself to hate the blond agent and Steve still saw Ada as a beautiful woman and an excellent partner, but part of him still felt a level of betrayal and wanted to do something about it.

His weapons claimed more-and-more victims with each passing second. His lust for battle made him one of the scariest men alive to fight. As he finished off the last of his foes he could soon hear a noise coming from a nearby radio.

Putting his weapons away he walks over to the nearby Humvee and finds the working radio.

"Echo team, come in. This is HQ to Echo team, respond." Steve heard the voice of a man inside the radio say. He took a look back at the dead BSAA commander's name tag, and then grabs the radio from its holster in the vehicle and presses on the button after perfecting his imitation of the dead leader's voice. "This is Echo team, Captain Mercer speaking."

"Captain Mercer, what happened?" the voice asked. "We called out three times already and there was no response."

"Sorry about that, we found some remaining Majini in the area and had to deal with them." Steve said as he imitated the dead captain's voice. He had developed an assortment of skill over the years, while working for Wesker in the field.

He was nervous at first, still unsure if they bought it or not, but soon the voce came back "Mercer, has Captain Walker returned yet with his squad from clearing-out the Marshlands."

"Yeah, they report that there is no one left inside the marsh and are moving into the nearby village." Steve said, still using the imitated voice.

"Very good, return to the Public assembly in the Kijuju autonomous zone for extraction. The other teams have already arrived." The voice of HQ said with its instructions. "And hurry, we've just received word from air strike command. They plan to bombard the city within a matter of three hours, so hurry."

"Roger that." Steve said with a smirk, before dropping the radio down. He now had a means by which to escape from this place and could use to get as far away as possible. There was also bad news and motivation for him to hurry, an incoming air strike will soon arrive and devastate the area.

As he walked away from the Humvee he took notice to one soldier who was still alive. He then begins to slowly walk over to him, not bothering to draw his weapon. The man was no real threat to him. He had no real desire to waste his bullets anyway.

"WH-why" the man said under his breath as he fought for more.

"Why?" Steve repeated, not fully understanding the man's question. Then the man begins to collect more breath before speaking again "Why did you kill us? Why did you cause all this destruction?"

Steve bent down on his knees and said "I don't know-why did you try to kill me?" he grabbed hold of the man's vest to hold him up "Our reasons are probably the same. You see BOW's as monsters to be eradicated, while we see you as a fascist army who would seek to kill us all; even if some of us wanted peace."

The man tried to speak again, but Steve cut him off "Your kind, the BSAA, hunted me for years. I never asked to be made a monster, but the second one of you sees me, your first instinct is to shoot and kill me. I wanted peace, I wanted to live my own life, but you and your kind will not let me." As Steve berated the dying man, he could see the anger in Steve's eyes as he spoke.

Steve never truly desired power. It was given to him, and he had no idea what to do with it. Any time he ever tried to make friends with a normal person, they saw his eyes, or watched his blood combust in the sunlight, and they would run away in fear; calling him a demon or a monster.

"You started this, not me." He said to the man. The dying soldier then replied "You are a threat the humankind, that has to be eradicated, or you will kill, and kill, and kill, until you finally die. That is all your kind is good for."

Steve looked angrily down at the man and said "Maybe so, but you'll never live to see our deaths." Then he grabs on both sides of the man's head and breaks his neck, killing him instantly. He took no joy in this act, only an empty feeling inside remained.

As he continued to look down onto the man's body, Steve felt something stir inside with more than anger as he said "It's true, what Wesker always said; Life is wasted you Humans. Always bringing yourselves one step closer to extinction with every passing day."

The young Tyrant then looks over to a nearby set of dead Majini that the squad had already killed before he arrived. He searches through the wreckage, and finds one motorcycle that was in better condition than the others. Setting the new ride up, he pulls back on the throttle and takes off for his next location.

Burning the rubber with his new ride and the dirt and grass road, Steve keeping his eyes locked forward, not wanting to stop for anything at all. He only had a matter of hours to escape from this god-forsaken place.

**Kijuju** **Autonomous Zone, an hour later.**

Riding through the Savanna, Steve had to take an alternate route to get around the mining portion of the zone. He then was forced to abandon his ride near the outside of the zone.

Putting a hand on his ear piece Steve once more tried to make contact with the other HCF operatives "Wilson, Vester, Sherawat. Is anyone out there? It's Steve Burnside. If there is anyone that can hear me on this channel please respond. Any and all Hive/Host Capture Force respond."

Still there was n response, he was beginning to think that his worst fears have been realized and his friends were dead, or there was a jammer in the area blocking his transmissions and no one could hear him.

Upon arriving in the city he was unsure as to how he was going to reach the helicopter without causing too much attention. He soon realized that it was no longer a concern, finding that remnant of the Majini still in town were fighting with the BSAA soldiers.

Seizing the opportunity presented to him, Steve draws both of his pistols and wastes no time in moving through the town. His weapons were reloaded once before he started the onslaught, Steve fires his weapon on the two sides. Not wanting to give any soldier the chance to alert their friends to his whereabouts he shoots the soldiers by the dozen as the seconds go by.

He was good with his weapon and his aim, but his ammo could only last for so long. As he reached the public assembly, Steve was force to rely on one side arm for defense and soon utilized a weapon he took off the dead body of one of the dead soldiers, an M4A1.

Firing the weapon, Steve entered onto a town turned into the battlefield of a large warzone. The M4A1 had only one magazine inside of it, the same one that was in when Steve took it. The ammo was not ideal, but it was enough for him to get far enough into the public assembly to see the helicopter.

Forced to toss his weapon aside, Steve used his strength when a BSAA soldier came at him with a knife. Disarming the weapon from the man's hands, he lifts him up with one hand. He was capable of doing so much more to this man; he could have punched his arm through him and rid the world of one less fly, but instead made use of him by throwing the soldier at another two soldiers that were coming at him.

Coming to the roof of the small building where the helicopter was preparing to take off, Steve draws the only Samurai Edge that still had ammo inside of it and fires on two of the soldiers remaining in his way before running for the helicopter.

Steve barely managed to jump after it as it took off, his hand being the only thing that held him to his ticket to freedom. Looking down and seeing how very far he was from the ground, Steve quickly pulls himself up into the chopper.

He stood in the helicopter, taking a moment to catch his breath, before looking towards the pilot and co-pilot seat. Seeing that the two were unaware of his presence he quickly decided to take advantage of the opportunity and made a move for the cockpit. The Co-pilot heard him coming and made a move to aim his Glock 19 at him, but Steve punched him hard across the face before he had the chance to put that plan into action.

Before the Pilot had time to react, Steve grabbed him from behind by his jacket and threw him out of the side exit that he came from; sending him out and thanks to gravity, plummeting down to earth, screaming; where he would die from the impact; to the hard ground. Then instantly remembering there was no one piloting this thing, he rushed for the pilot seat, just hoping that he could still remember his flight training from his Uncle Jack and Lt. Stokes.

Not knowing what for sure to do Steve pulls back on the stick, and as if by miracle stability was returned to his ride.

"Never doubted myself for a second," He said to himself out-loud. Then the co-pilot started to come to, rubbing his head as it was still throbbing from when he was punched unconscious. Steve wanted to shoot him and be done with it, but his weapons were out of ammo and the weapon the Co-pilot had dropped out of his hand and fell out after Steve punched him out cold.

The Co-pilot knew he was at a disadvantage, even with Steve's weapon not an option at the time he was more than capable of subduing the pilot with his bare-hands, and the man simply said "You know you people can't run forever?"

"Yeah and why is that?" Steve said; interested to hear what the man has to say.

The co-pilot was smug now, knowing something that he believed would shock Steve to hear "Your insane if you think you can out run the BSAA….we'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth. Chris Redfield already killed your boss's and your organization is doomed now."

Steve was sad to hear that Wesker and Excella were dead, but only a little. There was barely an expression on his face before he spoke and reached for his tactical knife "Yeah; I may not be able to run forever. But my day to die ain't today."

Then he pulls out his knife and buries it in the man's chest, killing him in a matter of seconds.

Once that was done, Steve continued to fly the helicopter for another hour before he saw planes fly by him and a loud explosion was heard. He did not bother to look back; Steve never was one for holding onto the past.

He remained silent for a moment, contemplating how many names would be put on the epitaphs for those who were killed back there. Would there only be ones for the BSAA soldiers and citizens who died in the outbreak, or would the names of his friends be on there as well, he doubted it. He imagined the only epitaphs they got were a list of names the BSAA keeps for the "bad guys" they killed.

He did not want to try again, Steve was ready to give up on trying, but for one last try he presses on his ear piece; still clinging to the hope that one of his friends responding to his call might happen. "This is Steve Burnside of the Hive/Host Capture Force, can anyone hear me?"

For another second Steve did not hear a response, his eyes shut down in anguish; believing that now he truly had no one, nothing left in his life to give a damn about. Then suddenly static could be heard before it started to clear up and he hears a voice "Hello, Steve is that you? It's Caleb."

To hear the voice of Caleb Wilson, the point man of HCF, was truly a reason for Steve to feel alive, to yell at the top of his lungs with joy and to be thanking god and everything else. Steve then heard him repeat his words again and this time he responds "Caleb, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice again."

"Same here man, I've been trying to get a hold of someone for answers and no one would pick up." Caleb said on his end, just as glad to hear Steve's voice as Steve was to hear his. "Where are you now Steve? I'm still trying to get out of this abandoned Umbrella town that Wesker sent me to, and I cannot for the life of me find a way to get out."

"I'm still in West Africa, but away from the Kijuju zone." Steve was toying with the controls of the helicopter, trying to find some setting that would give him directions "I'll come and get you just tell me where you're at."

"There's no real name for it, Wesker just calls it Far Point. It's a place in the middle of Colorado near west of the capital." Caleb could be heard saying on his end as Steve was still looking for a navigator.

Then Caleb says "Look Steve, I have to get moving now. The BSAA sent so cronies here, just get here as soon as you can." Before Steve finished looking for the navigator and said "I'm coming Caleb, just hang in there. I'll be there soon."

With those final words Steve ceased communication and set course for the nearest BSAA fueling station, and then Colorado.


End file.
